Ringed asteroid in our solar system

Reynard

Reynard

Emperor Mongoose
Missed that one in all our Traveller system generators. Would be an interesting Belter item.

"Chariklo, a 160-mile-wide (258-kilometer-wide) world named after a nymph in Greek mythology, orbits between Saturn and Uranus and is the largest of a class of objects known as Centaurs. Astronomers calculated that Chariklo would eclipse the star UCAC4 248-108672 on June 3, 2013, as seen from South America. So they flocked to several southern locations to catch the show."
 
Condottiere said:
Speculation is rife that there a very many large bodies in the Oort Cloud of the Pluto class.
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This one, for a start.

"Scientists have identified a new dwarf planet in the distant reaches of our Solar System.

It is being called 2012 VP113 for the time being, is about 450km across and is very likely icy in composition.

...

The observations of 2012 VP113 are reported in the journal Nature. They indicate that the object gets no closer than about 12 billion kilometres to the Sun, and at the farthest point in its eccentric orbit is a staggering 67 billion km from our star."
 
It seems the real solar system has enough interesting places and items for any non-Jump campaign. Our solar system extends to a boundary of one light year for the Oort cloud sphere while the Kuiper belt extends from Neptune to 50 AU from the sun and is considered similar to our more famous asteroid belt. The discovery of fusion power and maneuver drives would make resources from these places the real El Dorado and mankind would be everywhere.
 
Condottiere said:
Very Fireflyee, though how many other heavenly bodies could you terraform, besides Venus and Mars?
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None. (there's also the question of "why would you want to terraform a planet when it's vastly cheaper to just build a habitat there")
 
Wil Mireu said:
Condottiere said:
Very Fireflyee, though how many other heavenly bodies could you terraform, besides Venus and Mars?
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None. (there's also the question of "why would you want to terraform a planet when it's vastly cheaper to just build a habitat there")
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More importantly how do they survive if for some reason they find themselves marooned with no hope of anyone coming to check on them let alone getting resupplied? (Space 1999 anyone?)

Hmm and what if that ring is composed of something other than debris and ice particles say for example a graveyard of ships... okay maybe that means nothing to anyone unfamiliar with Space 1999 so okay then evidence of an actually manufactured ring possibly a space station circling the asteroid... maybe better to leave this as factual rather than science fiction though...
 
Mars is relatively survivable with a habitat while Venus has too many severe drawbacks for maybe scientific studies. Even Mars might be just a scientific curiosity or a tourist destination. Then again, Mars could have all sorts of odd or weird encounters. Mercury might be a great base for solar studies. The real goal is in the belts and, for a Traveller universe, the gas giants as a major source of fusion fuel. Again, tourism would also feature prominently with cruises to the belt and giants (Saturn 3). Scientific outposts would probably dot the solar system. Throw in a bit of Outland for most mining colonies and there's a world of adventure. Throw in the ringed planetoid that may not be what it seems.

I can see SDBs and non-jump scouts as common vessels. Unless there were (and maybe should be) national issues that went to space, no navies of capital ships.
 
Shades of Thomas Cook's "Galactic Tours" book? ;)

2148831.jpg
 
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